Chapter 1

"Sara, Sara, wait!"

Sara turned around when someone called out her name. To her surprise, it was Catherine's fifteen years old daughter Lindsey.

"Hi, Lindsey, how are you?"

When Lindsey came closer, Sara could see she was crying.

"Lindsey, what's wrong, honey?"

"Sara, please, I need to talk to you!" Lindsey cried. She threw herself into Sara's arms. "Please!"

"Calm down, honey, I'm listening. What's wrong?"

"No, please, not here, my mom…" Lindsey's tears made it impossible for her to say more. Sara hugged her. "Come on then, we'll go to the locker room."

"No, someone may walk in, I don't want anyone to find out!" Lindsey cried.

Sara had no idea what was going on with the teenager, but she took the girl to one of the empty rooms to process evidence and pushed the chair in front of the door.

"There. We're safe. Honey, what's wrong? And why do you need to talk to me and not your mom?"

"I don't want my mom to find out! Please, Sara, promise me you won't tell her!"

"Honey, I can't promise that, I don't know what's wrong."

"Promise me, Sara, promise me!"

It was wrong to promise she wouldn't say anything to Catherine, but Sara said: "Okay, honey, I promise. Now tell me, what's wrong?"

"I made a huge mistake, Sara! A huge one!"

Sara pulled the girl close to comfort her. "Tell me, Linds, tell me. I want to know what's wrong."

"But you can't tell anyone!"

"I won't, honey, just tell me what you did. What happened?"

"Look…" Lindsey moved back and wiped away her tears. "I know I'm no sweet, good girl, my grades are bad, I fight at school, I'm rude to teachers, but in the end I always feel bad. And I can correct those mistakes. But this time…"

She broke down into tears again. Sara didn't know what to do. She had to help the upset girl, but it should be Catherine she had to be talking to!

"Honey, should I get your mom instead?"

"No, Sara, no, she may never know what happened! You promised, remember? You promised you wouldn't say anything!" Lindsey grabbed Sara's arms. "You promised!"

"Calm down, honey, I did promise and I will keep that promise. But I want to help you and I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong. Talk to me, Linds, you can trust me," Sara said. "What happened that's so horrible?"

"I made a huge mistake, Sara, I really did and I can't correct it," Lindsey sobbed.

"What did you do, honey? Tell me, talk to me!" Sara begged. She was desperate. There was something awful going on here, she just knew it.

"My mom would kill me if she found out…"

"Lindsey, I already promised twice I wouldn't tell her, but so far I have nothing to tell her but the fact that you keep saying you made a huge mistake." Sara was now getting a bit angry. "Tell me then, Linds, and then I'll see if I can fix it."

"You can't fix this, Sara, I was so stupid!"

"I'd never say you're stupid, Linds, you're a clever girl, growing up just isn't easy."

Lindsey wiped away her tears again. "I know, Sara, but I really didn't mean for this to happen."

"I want to know now, Lindsey, what happened?"

"I slept with a guy."

Sara fell silent, she was blown away by Lindsey's answer. Startled, she stared at the teenager. She knew Catherine had talked about Lindsey's rebellious behavior, but this was the last thing she expected.

"Sara, what should I do? What if I'm… pregnant?"

Sara shook her head to concentrate on helping the girl. "Honey, I don't think you could be pregnant. Was this… Well, the first time you slept with someone?"

"I didn't mean for it to happen, Sara, I really didn't!"

Lindsey started crying again. When Sara hugged the young girl, she felt her shiver. "Honey, are you okay?"

"I'm so scared, Sara, what should I do? And what if my mom finds out?"

"Linds, I promised you I wouldn't tell her and I won't. I'm just surprised you came to me."

"What was I to do then?" Lindsey suddenly shouted. "My mom wouldn't understand, she'd just ground me for six months! Sara, I'm so scared!"

Somewhere deep inside Sara felt there was more she needed to know, but she didn't ask.

"Okay, honey, I'll tell you what we're going to do. There's a drugstore right across the police department that's open twenty-four hours a day. We're going to go there together and we'll buy a pregnancy test, then we can be sure, okay?"

Lindsey nodded slowly. "Okay, let's go then."